A general desire in the society today is to reduce the energy consumption of vehicles such as cars, trucks, lorries and buses. Reduced energy consumption may both increase the range of a vehicle as well as reduce emissions. This may apply both to petrol-driven vehicles, diesel-driven vehicles, electric motor vehicles and vehicles with fuel cells etc.
Today, most vehicles are provided with an energy consumption indicator, measuring the instant energy consumption (e.g. the consumption of petrol, diesel or electricity). The information given by the energy consumption indicator may be combined with information relating to average energy consumption per driven distance. Nevertheless, this information is not related to a desired level of energy consumption and the information does not provide any guidance for the driver to change his/her driving behavior or in what situations it should be changed.
For example, in terms of reduced energy consumption, it may be considered good driving behavior to avoid late and excessive braking. Moreover, it may be considered good driving behavior to use kinetic energy stored in the vehicle during accelerations to propel the vehicle and not remove this kinetic energy through unnecessary braking of the vehicle. This may have further positive effects in that the wear on the vehicle may be reduced.
Thus, there is a need in the prior art for efficient and reliable methods for evaluating deceleration of a vehicle.